Meaning: large projects take time
Rewrite 1: Chicago didn’t go up overnight
Rewrite 2: the city didn’t just show up
Rewrite 3: even the smallest building takes time to erect
Rewrite 4: last time I looked, there was no magic bean for sprouting a house
Comment: At first, rewriting this cliché was easy. I just substituted cities or buildings and I was finished. Then I tried to go beyond construction, and it wasn't easy anymore. What kinds of non-construction metaphors can you draw for this cliché?